The Drawbacks of Rock Salt

• Temperature –As you just learned, salt only works down to 15–20 degrees, so it’s not effective in very cold conditions.
• Ground water contamination –Rock salt has been known to seep into ground water supplies, leading to drinking water contamination if not properly managed.

It is less expensive than other products, including calcium chloride. However, of all the salts currently in usage as ice melts, rock salt remains the harshest on the environment. While calcium chloride is more expensive, it causes less eco damage. Flora and fauna suffer less from it being used.

Potassium Chloride (KCl) – Endothermic properties and a lowest effective temperature of +25°F (-4°C) limits the use of potassium chloride for ice melting. The material performs more slowly than calcium chloride, rock salt and magnesium chloride with relatively low melt volume capability.

Calcium chloride is a salt.

It is similar to sodium chloride. It reacts with silver nitrate to make silver chloride. It reacts with sodium metal when very hot to make potassium metal. The metals are a gas because it is so hot.

Pros: Calcium chloride works down to extremely low temperatures and isn’t nearly as bad for plants as rock salt. Cons: In 25 lb quantities, calcium chloride is more than twice as expensive as rock salt. It still eats away at wood and concrete by leaching out moisture and certain necessary chemicals.

So, if you’re using table salt, also known as sodium chloride (NaCl), to melt ice, the salt will dissolve into separate sodium ions and chloride ions. Calcium chloride is more effective at melting ice because it can break down into three ions instead of two: one calcium ion and two chloride ions.

Rock Salt is the chemical composition of sodium chloride – literally big chunks of super-powered salt that has a chemical reaction with ice/H2O that creates heat and melts the ice. It lowers the freezing point of water, and one of its benefits is that it provides instant traction on snow and ice.

calcium chloride

Rubbing alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, an ingredient found in most commercial deicing products, can be used on its own to melt ice. It has a freezing temperature of about -20 degrees Fahrenheit, which slows the freezing process of water. It’s not quite as effective as salt, but it’s not as harmful to plant life either.

Add 2 cups of white vinegar and stir the mixture well. Once it’s sufficiently mixed up, pour it into a spray bottle. Then you can take it outside and spray the snow and ice that you want to melt. Not only will it melt old ice, but it will also prevent new ice and snow from accumulating.

Can’t get your key in the lock? Look through your bag for hand sanitizer. The alcohol content here also lowers the freezing point of water and melts the ice inside the lock. Apply a few drops onto the key and gently work the gel in.

Sugar Doesn’t Really Melt Ice What actually happens is that it lowers the freezing point, so water can stay in the liquid state at a colder temperature. If you throw sugar on ice at 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-1.1 degrees Celsius), the ice will melt, but if the temperature falls lower, the water will eventually freeze.

Sugar lowers the freezing point of water, which makes frozen desserts fair game for changes in freezing point. Most desserts freeze between 29.5 to 26.6 degrees F (-1.4 to -3.0 C) depending on the concentration of sugar.

Sugar melts ice by lowering water’s melting and freezing points, just like salt. Sugar dissolved on ice and interferes with the water molecules. The water molecules are needed to bind the ice crystals in order for it to freeze.

Because salt lowers the melting point of water, if you add salt to ice, the ice will melt. Salty ice water can get much colder than regular water, though. While salty 0°F ice will still melt, its temperature won’t increase to 32°F like it would in regular water. Instead, the salt will turn it into 0°F water.